“Grey’s Anatomy” recap: “Hard Bargain” (9.15)

In Grey’s Anatomy’s “Hard Bargain,” the staff is threatening to leave Seattle Grace Mercy West. Bailey considers transferring to another hospital in Los Angeles to be near her hubby (which she should probably do anyway), the nurses are far from happy and some of our favorite Attendings announce their resignations. Buckle up; it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Dr. Cahill (Constance Zimmer) returns to finalize the hospital’s sale. The building is supposed to be sold to Pegasus in three days but, like everything else on this show, things don’t always go as planned.

Callie, Derek, Meredith and Arizona have a meeting to try and figure out if buying the hospital is actually feasible. Callie desperately wants to buy, Derek and Meredith are on the fence and Arizona doesn’t want to spend their settlement money on trying to save the hospital. Tension builds when Arizona, who is the only voice of reason in the room, snaps at Derek and calls him “egomaniacal.” Meanwhile, Cristina is busy with Owen (guess what they are doing?) so she misses the entire meeting but don’t worry, Meredith gets her up to speed later.

The next day Derek arrives at Seattle Grace and sees that his face has been plastered on billboards, brochures and signs all over the hospital. Not long after the posters are hung up we see marker drawn mustaches, fangs and graffiti (in the form of the words “sell out”) all over Derek’s smiling face. (Derek told intern Shane to destroy the posters as part of the plan to regain control of the hospital.)

In other news, April and paramedic Matthew are taking their relationship to the next level. These two lovebirds keep having make out sessions in the back of the ambulance (how romantic) but Matthew insists that they should go out on a real date. April is nervous about the date and confides in Avery. April is scared that Matthew won’t want to date her if she doesn’t have sex with him.

Avery tells her, “Tell him who you are. If he doesn’t get it, then you don’t need him anyway.”

That’s some damn good advice!

Not surprisingly, during April’s date Matthew confesses that he is a virgin and is waiting for marriage. (April and I are both thinking, “Where were you three months ago?”) April is relived and says she’s waiting for marriage too. Which isn’t really a lie, but it’s not the entire truth either. (Do you think April should have told Matthew about Avery? I’m not so sure.)

Then there is Alex and Jo. These two team up to save a baby’s life, which they do, and they end up dealing with the baby’s awful parents who work together and hate each other. Jo asks Alex if he believes office romances can work, which makes Alex look at Jo in a different way. Alex does believe co-workers can successfully be together and then casually asks Jo on a date. Jo blows him off, assuming it’s just a hangout request, and she races off to a real date with a new resident in the hospital. Alex didn’t even know Jo had a crush on someone else. (I’m sure Alex and Jo will get together by the end of this season, don’t you?)

Owen is running around the hospital like a chicken with his head cut off. He is so busy dealing with Dr. Cahill and the unhappy nurses that he doesn’t even consider getting Bailey clearance to do a possible life saving surgery on one of her patients.

Owen explains to Bailey that the surgery wouldn’t be approved anyway due to the hospital’s new practices. Bailey finally realizes that Owen is part of the Pegasus machine and is no longer putting the patient’s care first. She is infuriated (to say the least) and goes to her patient’s father and tells him that she can’t give him the care she promised. Then Bailey yells out, “Leave Seattle Grace and go someplace else.” (It’s like a Streetcar Named Desire moment.)

Then the pissed off Bailey puts on her regular clothes, packs up and storms out of the hospital.

Meanwhile, Derek brings in his financial advisor to run the numbers and see if the doctors can in fact buy the hospital. Derek, Callie, Arizona, Meredith and Cristina have a secret meeting in a van parked in back of the hospital to figure out their game plan. Cristina spills the news that Owen told her if any of the staff quits Pegasus might not buy the hospital because it won’t be as valuable.

Back inside, Dr. Cahill tells Owen that the buyers don’t want to wait three more days because they want to buy the hospital immediately.

Owen sits in the boardroom with the hospital’s lawyers, Dr. Cahill and the Pegasus suits, as they review all the sale documents. Just then Derek, Callie, Arizona, Meredith and Cristina bust in the room and announce that they all quit. Owen looks at Cristina and with his eyes he says, “How could you?” (I’m really good at reading eye language.)

And since all these doctors are valuable, Pegasus reneges their offer to buy Seattle Grace.

This last-ditch effort might have stalled Dr. Cahill from selling the hospital and having it destroyed by a mega-company with no bedside manner, but it doesn’t mean Seattle Grace is out of the woods. Now Derek, Callie, Arizona, Meredith and Cristina need to go forward with their plan and deal with the consequences.